As against the wide denial, new findings have revealed that the Prime Minister of Cape Verde, Ulisses Correia, was directly involved in the 'illegal' arrest of embattled Venezuelan diplomat, Alex Saab.
An highly
placed source, a security agent close to the case, who pleaded anonymity
revealed that two individuals — Natalino Correia and Paulo Rocha — were
prominently involved in Saab's arrest on June 12, 2020.
The source
explained that Natalino Correia, an airport police officer, was the one who
entered the plane carrying an Interpol red alert, which has now been found to
be false, to withdraw the Special Envoy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
in contravention of international norms.
While it
initially appeared that Correia acted alone, sources have revealed that the
operation by Correia was planned by Paulo Rocha who is a close friend of Cape
Verde’s Prime Minister, Ulisses Correia, and encubier to from the United States
to Cape Verde together with agents of the Administration of Drug Control (DEA).
Rocha who is
Cape Verde's Minister of Interior, also reportedly has files for drug
trafficking and extrajudicial killings.
A clear
indication that the US government was involved in the whole operation is that
few days after arresting Saab, Natalino Correia and another employee, Ary
Varela were decorated and qualified as “heroes” by the US Department of State
for being “fundamental figures to hold drug traffickers criminally accountable
of people and helping the victims to obtain justice in Cape Verde”, as stated
in the official website.
Saab was
arrested and detained in Cape Verde based on the request of the Donald Trump
led United States government during a stop over on his way to Iran over allegations
of money laundering.
This is a move
the Venezuelan government faulted with claims that the businessman is its special
envoy on a humanitarian mission.
The
Venezuelan government claimed that before his arrest, Saab had been on a
mission to get food and medical supplies in Iran, stopping over in Cape Verde
where he was arrested by security operatives.
The failure
of Cape Verdean authorities to obey the ruling of the ECOWAS court by
extraditing Saab to the US is not the first contempt for court order by the
authorities since his detention last year.
Saab was
denied access to any member of his defense team despite three court rulings
granting him the right to do so.

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